THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Even when it controls a football game as it did against Minnesota, Penn State still manages to do a few things that give its fans heartburn.
Today may not be much different. The 13th-ranked Nittany Lions get to visit Michigan Stadium, a recurrent house of horrors for them over the last decade-plus, and play a crucial Big Ten contest against the Wolverines.
It may be hard to believe, but this will be only the second road contest this season for the Lions (6-1 overall, 2-1 conference). They trounced Illinois in their initial effort away from Beaver Stadium, but the Fighting Illini have sunk to the nether regions of the Big Ten since then.
So in Game 8, this will be Penn State's toughest test on a number of levels.
The Nittany Lions have lost five straight at the Big House, with their most recent victory coming in 1996. They go up against an offense from Michigan (5-2, 1-2) that has found its stride in coach Rich Rodriguez's second season, with freshman sensation Tate Forcier at quarterback.
Though Penn State may have played its best all-around game of the season in its 20-0 win last Saturday over Minnesota, two areas had to concern Joe Paterno: penalties and a lack of success in finishing drives.
The Lions were penalized a season-high nine times - eight of them coming on offense - for 76 yards.
"We know it's going to be a 60-minute football game," Paterno said. "Hopefully, we can keep our poise and not have a lot of silly penalties as we've had, or turnovers. We have to play a good, solid football game and try not to give up too many big plays."
The Penn State offense last week ran off nearly twice as many plays as Minnesota, held the football for 42 minutes, and converted 11 of 17 third-down plays. Still, though the Lions drove into Golden Gophers territory on each of their nine possessions, they managed just two touchdowns and two field goals.
"Sometimes it happens that way," said quarterback Daryll Clark, who passed for 287 yards and a touchdown. "That's the way a football game goes. It doesn't go as you plan it every time. The biggest thing is being able to convert on third down. But we have to have a sense of urgency when we get into the red zone and score touchdowns."
Even so, Clark and Paterno will take another week of ball control to keep the football away from Forcier, who has led three comeback efforts this season.
Rodriguez will relieve Forcier on occasion with another freshman, Denard Robinson, an excellent runner.
"We want both of them to be able to do all the offense, and I think both of them can," he said. "Obviously, they have certain strengths and things that they may be able to feature individually. But the ideal situation for us is for all of our quarterbacks to be able to run all the offense."
The Wolverines' tailback combination of Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor have collected 610 yards rushing between them. Michigan is first in the Big Ten and eighth in the nation with an average of 235.0 yards on the ground.
The Penn State defense continued to play at a high level last week, limiting Minnesota to seven first downs and 138 total yards.
"We have to be patient," linebacker Josh Hull said. "If we don't do that, it will allow their players to cut back on a lot of running plays. It comes down to playing assignment football. We have to focus on doing our jobs."
Paterno wants to see how his team copes with a loud road venue with more than 100,000 people packing the stands. But he also knows that "the only tough game we've been in, we've lost," a reference to last month's game against Iowa.
"I think we've made decent progress," the coach said. "I think we've gotten a little bit better each week, and I think we ought to be able to be competitive with the last five games we're going to play, whether they're home or away."
No Green. Paterno said backup tailback Stephfon Green did not make the trip because of an ankle injury. He said sophomore Brandon Beachum, normally a fullback, will see time at tailback, and that redshirt freshman Michael Zordich had been moved from linebacker to fullback.
Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com.
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